Mahershala Ali's star is on the rise! You may have recognized his face before, but 2017 is the year the world finally learns how to pronounce his name: Ma-HERshala. The actor earned a Critics' Choice Award and a SAG Award for his supporting role in Moonlight, and he's up for an Oscar this Sunday, as well. While this is his breakout award season (he's also in Hidden Figures ), Ali has been acting since 2001, when he appeared as Dr. Trey Sanders on Crossing Jordan. Since then, he popped up on dozens of TV shows before making it to the big screen in movies like Predators and The Place Beyond the Pines. While his credits are too long to list here, these are the five places you're most likely to have seen Ali.
After a six-episode arc on Treme, Ali starred in the action-drama Alphas on the Syfy network.
YA fans know him as Boggs from the final two Hunger Games films.
He started gaining critical recognition with the role of Remy Danton. The part earned him both an Emmy nomination and a Critics' Choice nomination in 2016.
Ali also appeared opposite Matthew McConaughey in this 2016 drama.
Ali must have a great relationship with Netflix, because it cast him in another original series. He played the villain Cottonmouth in the powerful first season of Luke Cage.